The Precinct
by Shout Diva
Summary: [AU] Detective Lilian Garcia of a small Delaware police unit is unhappily forced to work with a rookie partner: Joey Styles. Also features Edge, Lita, Ashley, Nitro, Orton, Charlie, Shelton, Steph and Vince.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is something myself, Kristen and Katie (PugNTurtle) have written. We disclaim every WWE superstar in this story. Clearly we don't own them. God knows what would happen to Joey if we got our hands on him. This will be a short story, 3 to 5 chapters at most. Enjoy!**

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"You _bitch_!"

"Shut the hell up and get in there!" Detective Lilian Garcia pushed the suspect to a bank robbery into a holding cell, slamming the door shut and locking it. "Asshole," Lilian muttered, shaking her head and turning her back on the suspect, glaring down at the hole in the knee of her pants, courtesy of tackling the unruly man.

"Having a bad day, Detective Garcia?" Officer Randy Orton asked, the trademark smirk evident on his face.

"Does it look like it's a good day, Officer?" Lilian snapped.

"Well, I'm looking at you, so of course it does."

She rolled her eyes at the younger officer. "Do you ever stop?"

"If you give me a chance baby, then I will."

"It's never going to happen." The female police officer ran a hand through her hair as she walked away from him.

He ran after her. "Stop lying to yourself Blondie."

The blonde opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by her commanding officer. "Detective Garcia, in my office!"

Now it was her turn to smirk. "I'm not lying." She looked at Randy. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get my promotion to Sergeant Garcia, and you can bet your sweet ass I'm not going to let a punk like you push me around any longer." Lilian winked at him and then added, "Babe."

As she was walking towards Captain McMahon's office, Detective Charlie Haas headed towards Randy, eating an apple. "It won't happen, man. Just let it go."

Randy shrugged him off. "Please, I'll have her nailed in two weeks or less."

Charlie shook his head, taking another bite of his apple. "Keep dreaming," he chuckled and then left to head back to his office.

"Good afternoon, Captain," Lilian said cheerfully after shutting the door to Vince McMahon's private office.

"Good afternoon, Detective," Captain McMahon said, gesturing to her to shut the door. Lilian did so, standing in front of her boss for a few moments, trying not to let her excitement show too much. "Where are you with the PNC Bank robberies?"

"I just collared a suspect, sir," Lilian said proudly. "A tip came in about an hour ago and in following the lead, I ran into the suspect, a Mr. Adam Copeland, who proceeded to run when I attempted to question him about the case."

"Where is he now, Detective?" her Captain asked.

"In lock up, sir." As Lilian said this, she noticed a young man seated next to where she stood, dressed in a fresh pressed uniform.

Captain McMahon seemed to notice where her attention had been adverted to and cleared his throat. "Detective Garcia, this is Rookie Officer Joey Styles, he's new to our precinct. He's transferring in from Wilmington, Delaware."

She nodded politely. "Hi." Turning her attention back to her Captain, she tilted her head to the side. "If you don't mind me asking sir, what does this have to do with me?"

"Well Detective, he's your new partner."

"Partner? But Captain, I work alone."

"Apparently not any more. You now have a partner, and if you expected to get that promotion, you better accept it."

"Sir...yes sir." Once she was dismissed, she quickly made her way to her office, slamming the door behind her.

Vince stood up, gesturing to the new officer to do so as well. "She really is nice when you get past her gruff side. Garcia's office is down the hall on your first right. If she says anything, you can tell her to come take it up with me."

The rookie extended his hand, which the Captain accepted. "Thank you, sir."

With a nod from Vince, Joey left in search of Lilian's office. He peered in the doorway, finding the blonde at her desk, searching through a pile of papers. Joey knocked on the open door, causing her to look up.

Lilian forced a smile and motioned for him to come inside. When he obliged, she placed the papers down on the center of the desk. "So, what caused you to move to a place like Newport?" she asked grudgingly after a few minutes of silence.

"I like your precinct, what can I say?"

"Relax," Lilian said, noting his jerky, precise movement, growing slightly impatient with his unsure presence.

Joey settled down across from her desk in a chair. "So, how long have you been with the Newport Police Department?"

"Seven years," Lilian said with a sigh, thinking that she should be a sergeant by now, but it did not seem to be the right moment, yet again. "How long have you been in law enforcement?" she asked half heartedly, sifting through the mess on her desk, frowning when she couldn't find the paper she needed.

"A year. I asked for a transfer from Wilmington because… well, the city is kind of rough."

"Tell me about it," Lilian said, pushing the sleeve to her short sleeve shirt up a bit to show the deep scar on her bicep.

"Ouch. How did that happen?" Joey asked sympathetically.

"A drug dealer, you know how they can be. It was either my face or my arm connecting with the fence, as you can tell I figured my arm would be the better of the two."

He shook his head. "Those guys can be brutal, that's for sure."

She nodded her head opening her mouth to reply when her door was pushed open, Officer Orton on the other side. "Can I help you?"

"Of course you can beautiful, meet me at my place after work."

She walked over to him, standing toe to toe with the young man. "I don't know what you're problem is, but you need to start thinking with the head on your shoulders and _not_ the one in your pants, do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, baby, crystal clear!" The brash officer smirked and pulled the sleeve on her shirt down. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I think I need to say that I for one am glad you sacrificed your arm, and not your gorgeous face." His fingers trailed up her arm, up her neck, and slowly across her cheek.

Lilian swatted his hand away. "You know Randy, with all this affection you show me, I think your partner, Haas, he's feeling a bit lonely. Why don't you go show him some of that lovin' you're always telling me about?" Smiling kindly, she shoved him out of her office and shut the door behind him.

"Does he bother you a lot?" Joey asked, unsure of the situation.

Lilian rolled her eyes and headed back to her desk. "Hardly." Just as she was about to continue, someone knocked on her door. Grumbling, she yelled, "I'm not in the mood for your ridiculously fucked pick up lines, Orton!"

The handle turned and Lieutenant Stephanie McMahon entered the room. "Excuse me, Garcia?"

The blonde turned a light shade of red and immediately stood up. "I am so sorry, Lieutenant! I thought you were Randy."

Stephanie nodded. "Whatever the issue is, it needs to wait. We've got a lead turned in on the bank robbery," she said, handing a manila envelope to Lilian.

"Lieutenant, I just collared a suspect for the robberies," Lilian said, frowning slightly as she accepted the envelope.

"Well, obviously there are other suspects in the case, Garcia," the Lieutenant said snappishly. "So I suggest you take your partner," Stephanie put extra emphasis on partner, knowing that the small blonde preferred to work alone, "and interview this eyewitness. The entire state is on edge, and we're depending on you and the rookie here to take care of this case. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lilian said, trying to keep the irritated tone out of her voice as Stephanie left. "Come on, Rookie, I'll show you where we all get drinks and stuff on the way there."

Joey followed Lilian out of her office, trying to keep up with her long strides as she walked into the precinct. He nearly fell over, however, when the sometimes clumsy partner of Orton walked right into Lilian, sending the Detective sprawling to the ground.

The already annoyed Detective glared at Haas, brushing off his attempts to help her up. "Don't touch me; you've done enough damage as it is." Smoothing out her uniform, her eyes landed on Orton, who was attempting to look concern. "Don't even start, you got it?"

The two men for once listened and quickly backed off. Joey however made his way to Lilian's side. "Are you okay, Detective?"

"I'm fine," she replied, her tone clipped before she mumbled under her breath, "I should be Lieutenant, not a damn babysitter." She shook her head and continued her quick pace out to the car, leaving Joey struggling to keep up.

As Joey pulled his seatbelt on, he noticed the faint smell of mango and various other fruit in Lilian's patrol car. He was going to comment, but decided to leave her alone.

She sat down in the driver's seat, starting the car and clipping her seat belt on at the same time. "Are you ready for your first assignment?"

"Sure," he agreed.

Lilian eyed him, but decided to not question it. She kept her eyes straight ahead and pulled out on the street.

After long minutes of silence, Joey finally got the courage to talk. "How'd you decide to be a police officer? No offense, but you're a lot prettier than any other cop I've seen."

Lilian glanced at him sharply, her expression remaining hard despite the innocent look on the rookie's face. "My dad. He was an officer for the Wilmington Police Department for many years. I always wanted to be just like him," Lilian finally grudgingly replied, wondering why she was sharing this personal information with him.

"Oh, well that's nice," Joey said with a shrug, not noticing that she seemed agitated by the conversation. "What does he think of it?"

"My father passed away when I was fourteen. He was shot by a bank robber during a bust," Lilian said, keeping her gaze on the road, wondering what was holding them up. Construction, no doubt.

"I'm sorry," Joey said softly, feeling bad about making her relive that memory.

"Don't be," Lilian replied shortly with a wave of her hand. "He lived a good life."

Joey nodded, watching the road ahead of him, shaking his head at the sight of several construction trucks ahead of them. "So, um, are you married?" he asked, his eyes focused on the blonde's left hand, where a silver band encircled her fourth finger.

As if feeling his gaze on her finger, she impulsively reached down toying with the band. "No."

"Then why the ring, if you don't mind me asking."

"I was married, a few years ago. He uh, he died in a car accident. He was…coming to pick me up when it happened."

"God Lilian, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." The tone in her voice was enough to tell him to drop the subject.

"So uh...this thing with Orton? Have you talked to the Captain about it?"

The blonde shook her head. "It'd prove no purpose; his dad served the force for 25 years, and his grandfather before that. The Ortons have a reputation in this precinct, there's no getting rid of him."

Feeling the need to change the subject, he asked about the case. "What's the story on the robbery?"

"There are four suspects, I caught one earlier," Lilian explained. "However, that leaves three more of those scumbags still out there."

"Where are we headed now, then?"

Lilian looked over at him, biting down on her tongue to keep any witty comments about his inexperience intact. . "You really are a rookie," she muttered. "We're going to the scene of the crime."

Joey nodded and kept his mouth shut for the rest of the ride so he wouldn't make an even bigger fool of himself.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Lilian and Joey pulled up to the site where the last bank robbery had taken place. With a sigh, Lilian got out of the squad car, glaring down at the hole in the knee of her pants, wishing that she would have changed before coming out. However, in the haste of having a partner thrown at her, she hadn't really thought to change into another pair of pants.

"So…um, Detective Garcia, what do we know about the case?" Joey asked nervously, somewhat wary of his partner's clippish attitude.

"Just that there have been a string of robberies at the local PNC Banks. The only thing we know is that there is a team of three or possibly four suspects. I was going to interview the suspect I caught this morning before we had to go on a wild goose chase thanks to the boss's daughter," Lilian told him.

Joey simply nodded his head, not wanting to annoy the blonde anymore than she already was. He followed her inside, letting her do the questioning at first.

"What do you have for me?" she asked, walking over to the other detectives who had gathered there.

"We've found a lead, apparently one of the witnesses recalls seeing two females along with Copeland when the robbery happened."

"Okay, anything more than that?"

Detective Shelton Benjamin spoke up from the group. "Can I talk to you privately, Garcia?"

She nodded her head, politely excusing herself from the others to follow him. "What's going on?" she asked once they were in a secluded area.

"I believe I may have another lead on the case," Shelton said.

"Alright, what's that?" Her green eyes lit up with excitement. _Finally, a break._

Shelton opened his mouth to answer when Joey walked over to the two. "Uhm, Detectives, I just got a call from the Captain, he wants us to return right away."

Lilian's jaw clenched and she tried not to seer holes into the dark haired man. "What exactly does McMahon want?"

"He didn't say," Joey stammered, resisting the urge to add 'ma'am' at the end of the sentence. "He just asked that we get back to the station right away."

"Okay, go to the car and I'll meet you there in a minute," Lilian said, waving her partner off.

"I should let you go," Shelton started, only to be cut of by his colleague.

"No. McMahon can wait. The safety of our civilians is the most important thing. So give me the cliff notes."

Shelton nodded, quickly sliding her a piece of paper. "You didn't hear this from me. But there are four bank robbers. Of course there is Adam Copeland, who you caught this morning. His partners are Johnny Nitro, Ashley Massaro, and Amy Dumas."

"How the hell did you find this out, Shelton?" Lilian asked, quickly scanning the file.

"Don't ask, don't tell," Shelton replied with a shrug. "Now get going before you get the rookie in trouble on his first day."


	2. Chapter 2

**We finally updated! Yay! Sorry for such the long wait! It's really hard to get all 3 of us together when Kristen and I don't have homework. Stupid high school. Psht. Anyways, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

The days went by slowly, for Lilian at least. Working with Joey eventually made her dread going to work, something she hadn't done ever since she'd been hired on.

Lilian walked into the station, a cup of Starbucks coffee in her hands. As she approached her office, she realized something wasn't right. Frowning, she pushed open the door, nearly dropping her coffee at the sight in front of her.

Her desk had been pushed to the side, another desk added. The office, tiny to begin with, now looked minute. Sitting at the new desk was Joey, flipping through some paperwork on the bank robbery case.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully.

"What the hell is this?" Lilian asked, ignoring Joey's greeting.

Joey's smile disappeared under the blonde's murderous look at the desk. "Um… Lieutenant McMahon ordered the desk be put in here so I have a place to work," Joey said apologetically. "I'm sorry-"

"It's not your fault," Lilian ground out, edging her way around the desks, hitting her hip on the corner as she did so.

Her groan of frustration could be heard at the next Delaware precinct, Joey jumping slightly as he tentatively asked, "What?"

"My picture. Of my Dad and I. It's broken."

Joey frowned and climbed to his feet, glancing over at the broken frame. "I had no idea, I'm so sorry Lilian."

He stepped forward to help her, only to be met with a cold stare.

"Don't," she ground out, leaning down to pick up the pieces of the broken frame.

Already knowing that pushing her buttons wasn't a smart move, Joey walked back over to his desk and sat down. He idly shifted through the stacks of papers on his desk, glancing over at the blonde from time to time.

Lilian remained silent for the duration of time spent in her...their office. She avoided talking to Joey as much as she could and had already chewed Orton out twice by lunch time.

To make matters worse, as Lilian walked back through the main area of the station, heading for her office, the files and papers she was carrying slipped, falling onto the floor. She grumbled and bent down to pick them up, cursing the janitors who didn't vacuum close enough to the file cabinets. Her face twisted when her fingers grazed over a dead cricket. Shivering slightly, she began piling her papers up.

Charlie walked in shortly thereafter, heading for the file cabinet. He was in search of a file that had all the documents on a prisoner he had caught. Whistling carelessly, he jerked open the second drawer, just as Lilian stood up.

"OW!" Lilian stumbled backwards, dropping her papers yet again, her hands flying to cradle her head.

"Oh, my God!" Charlie said, dropping to his knees next to Lilian. "I am so sorry! Are you okay?"

"Jesus Christ, Haas. Are you trying to kill me?" Lilian grumbled, trying to will the stars behind her eyes away as she moved to stand up.

Charlie stretched out a hand, helping the little blonde to stand. She shook off his hand, however, glaring at him as she ran a hand over her head, wincing when she felt the lump forming on the top of her head. She took a deep breath, preparing to launch a tirade that made even the toughest criminals wince.

"Garcia! I need you and Styles right now! There's a silent alarm going off at the PNC Bank in Trolley Square!" McMahon interrupted her before she could start her spiel.

"Officer, clean that up," Lilian ordered before running off to find Styles.

"Styles, let's go. Now."

Joey looked up from the files he had spread across his desk, he was trying to catch up on the current case when Lilian came running in. "Did I do something wrong? I was just trying to catch up on the case and-"

"What part of 'Let's go,' didn't you understand?" she interrupted with a frustrated sigh.

The younger officer didn't say another word; instead he climbed to his feet and silently followed his superior officer out of the room.

* * *

Lilian glanced back at Joey, her voice barely audible so that no one else could hear her. "When I give the go, we go in. No questions, just do it."

Joey nodded his head, lifting his gun as he prepared to follow her inside.

"Go!"

They entered the bank, their guns held up. Some of the people inside were still on the floor, while others were beginning to stand up.

Lilian eased up, noticing the coast was clear. She walked up to one of the girls behind the bank counter. "What happened?"

"There were three of them, they all had on masks. I don't know. They just came in with guns, told everyone to get down and they demanded money," she explained shakily.

"Okay, it's all going to be okay now," Lilian said, trying her best to calm the girl down. "Do you know where they went?"

"They left out the back door about five minutes ago."

_Bingo_, Lilian thought. "Okay, just stay here. I'm going to go call for back up. Everything will be fine."

Gesturing for Joey to follow her, she made her way to the back door, pushing it open carefully. Her green eyes scanned the area, and she noticed a flash of black disappearing behind a tree. "Styles! This way," she said, breaking into a run.

They came to a five foot high fence, which Lilian scaled easily. Joey, however, caught his foot at the top, the rookie officer stumbling as he dropped to the ground. Lilian hesitated briefly, continuing on when Joey yelled, "Go!"

Lilian broke into a fast run, cautiously approaching the area where she saw the figure disappearing. As she made her way there, she saw the three figures go in separate directions. _Shit_, she thought, remembering her training.

'_Always go after the one who looks the weakest,'_ she could almost hear her instructor in her head.

Making a split second decision, she headed off after the blonde who looked to be having trouble running.

The female officer had her attentions focused solely on catching up with the blonde running ahead of her, not realizing that Joey was following after her. Taking her chances, Lilian lunged at the assailant, taking her down easily.

"Not so tough without your boys now, are you?"

The blonde struggled against her. "Get off of me!" She moved her body from side to side, trying to fling Lilian off of her, but it was no use.

"You're only making this harder on your-"

"Everything okay here?"

Lilian looked up, her green eyes wide with anger. "Why did you follow me!"

Joey ducked his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I thought you might have needed some help."

"Does it look like I need help?" she snapped.

Lilian was seething. Jerking the blonde to her feet, she pulled the mask off revealing Ashley Massaro. "It would be you, you little bitch!"

"Takes one to know one," Ashley spat back.

All the frustration that had been building for the last few days was really taking its toll. Lilian knew if it wasn't for all of that, she wouldn't have done what she did, which was slap Ashley across the face.

Joey stared at her. "I can't believe you just did."

Lilian glared at him while putting handcuffs on Ashley. "And I can't believe you were such a dumbass to follow me and not try to catch the other two!"

"You're both dumbasses!" Ashley stated, wincing when Lilian tightened the cuffs.

"You shut the hell up. No one asked for your opinion," Lilian ground out, holding the cuffs with one hand and pushing Ashley into walking with the other hand. "Where the hell are the other two?"

"I'm not telling you shit, bitch!"

Lilian resisted the urge to cuff Ashley across the back of the head. Instead, she walked her back to the parking lot where she met Haas and Orton. She shoved Ashley towards them, gruffly stating, "Take her back to the station. And put her into an interrogation room. I'll be there in a few."

With that, she turned, grabbing Joey's arm and yanking him to the side. "What the hell were you thinking! Basic police procedure states that when you're chasing multiple suspects, you go after each one individually, not try to help your partner!"

Joey nervously shuffled from side to side, finally looking up at her. "I know that…I just figured maybe you might need help."

"Well I didn't. You can explain to McMahon why the _two_ of us only caught _one_ of them. And I'll be damned if this blame gets put on me." She walked off, climbing into the car and slamming the door behind her.

A few minutes later he quietly slid into his seat, his attention focused out the window as they made the drive back to the precinct.

Once they got there, they went their separate ways; Lilian into the interrogation room while Joey made his way over to McMahon's office.

"How'd it go, Styles?" Vince asked after Joey had shut the door.

"We got one of them, Ashley Massaro. Lilian's interrogating her now."

"Just one? Weren't there three?"

Joey cleared his throat. "Yessir."

"Well, then what happened?" Vince pressed.

"I went with Lilian when the suspects split up. And it's a good thing too. She probably would've beaten the girl if I wasn't there."

"Excuse me?"

Joey shut his eyes, realizing what he just said. "It's just that...well sir, Ashley was mouthing off and Lilian wasn't having any of it."

McMahon frowned, crossing his arms as he leveled a hard look at Joey. "What happened?"

Joey squirmed slightly under McMahon's hard look, mumbling, "She kind of slapped Massaro."

"What was that, Officer?"

"She slapped Massaro," Joey replied, louder this time.

McMahon cursed, standing up and stalking to the interview room, Joey a few steps behind him. The Captain wasn't surprised to see Lilian in there already, interrogating the blonde woman identified as Ashley Massaro.

Closing his eyes, he made a decision. He decided to let Lilian interrogate Massaro. If he was going to lose a suspect over police brutality, he might as well at least get some information first.

Then he would ream her ass out.

A few minutes later Lilian came out of the room, writing down the last of the information she had gotten. She glanced up, surprised to see the Captain standing in front of her. "Sir."

"My office, now."

She made no attempt to argue, following him into the office. She stopped only as she passed Joey, her eyes questioning him but he simply walked away.

"Sit down," the Captain ordered as he took a seat at his desk, the blonde detective sitting across from him. "Care to tell me what happened out there?"

"Well, when we got there, the assailants were already gone. We chased after them; I went for Ashley and for some reason Joe-"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and cut her off. "I meant with yourself and Ms. Massaro."

"I don't understand where you're going with this, Sir."

"It's simple Detective, did you slap her?"

Her jaw immediately clenched. "That sorry son of a," she muttered.

"What was that?"

She looked up at him, trying keep from glaring at her commanding officer. "Yessir, I did."

"And why is that?" he further questioned.

Lilian swallowed the sound that was bubbling up from her throat. "Because I was incredibly frustrated with the situation."

"THAT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE!" Vince barked, slamming his fist on his desk. "You have no right to be striking any sort of criminal, unless they are armed and intend on doing harm to you. The way I understand it, you just slapped the taste out of her mouth because you jolly well felt like it. Well guess what Garcia, that doesn't fly around here."

"Sir-"

"SHUT UP!" Lilian jumped slightly, her mouth shutting as she stared at her boss. "You have about five seconds to tell me why I should keep your ass on this case."

Lilian quickly said, "Sir. I apologize for what I did to Massaro. But I just got information of when Amy Dumas and Johnny Nitro will be making their final hit."

"GIVE ME A REASON WHY I SHOULD LET YOU PURSUE THEM!"

Again, the blonde detective jumped. "Sir," she said hastily. "It's the last hit before they leave town. We need all the man power possible and there isn't time to brief another team about this!"

McMahon unclenched his jaw as he asked, "When is this last robbery going down?"

"Two days from now."

"Which bank?"

"Citizens' Bank, Sir."

The Captain slowly nodded his head. "You'll stay on the case till then, and if you don't catch them then that's it."

"Thank you, Sir." She climbed to her feet, her eyes locking with the cold stare of her commander.

"And if I hear _anything_ about you do something wrong, I won't hesitate to transfer your ass out of here, is that clear?"

She swallowed and nodded. "Crystal clear."

"You're dismissed then."

Lilian walked briskly out the office, her head down as she stormed into her office. Joey jumped slightly when she slammed the door behind her, already preparing to be chewed out.

But to his surprise, the usually outspoken officer simply sat down in her chair, head resting in her hands. When she did look at him, he could almost swear he saw a look of hurt flicker in her green eyes, but just as quickly it was gone, replaced with the all too familiar anger.


	3. Chapter 3

"Garcia, Styles the Captain wants you in his office."

The two partners both sighed softly, but climbed to their feet. Joey stopped to thank the officer who had informed them before they entered his office.

"Have a seat. We were just sent a lead on where Amy Dumas and Johnny Nitro will be. Unfortunately for the two of you, you'll have to go undercover tonight and try and gets as much information as you can."

The two officers both looked up in shock.

"Why can't we just arrest them tonight?"

"...Undercover?!"

Vince resisted the sudden urge to laugh. "There's not enough information, you know that Detective and yes, undercover. I'll need the two of you to be at the restaurant tonight."

"As a waitress or something, right?"

"No. Husband and wife would look less suspicious."

"Sir you can't be..."

"Detective!"

"But Sir!"

"But nothing, you have your orders. Go get ready."

Joey obeyed his orders and slowly stood up. Lilian groaned. "Captain, is this the only way?"

Vince gave a stern look. "Detective Garcia, if you do not follow orders, you will be removed from this case, understood?"

She looked down, afraid that she'd say something to get her in trouble. "Yessir."

"Okay then, I will have Haas inform you of the reservation time. It's the Vesuvio, so dress nicely." Vince smiled kindly at the pair and watched as they left; half wishing he could be there tonight to watch that go down.

* * *

A few hours later, Lilian and Joey stood uncomfortably outside of their car, looking at one another. Lilian couldn't help but feel self-conscious in the short black dress she was wearing. Even though she worked out and was in shape, she was more comfortable in her police uniform or sweats…

Joey sighed, admiring Lilian to himself. "Look, Detect-- Lilian. If we're going to pull off this undercover thing, we've got to really act the part. So let's put all personal differences aside and enjoy a nice meal courtesy of the Newport Police Department."

Lilian glanced at him, surprised. She smiled slightly, accepting his elbow when he held it out for her to take. "Okay, Joey."

"God, I feel so girly," Lilian pointed out disgustedly.

"You look beautiful," Joey said softly, holding the door of the posh restaurant open for the little blonde.

Lilian ducked her head, hoping to hide the slight blush in her cheeks. "Thank you."

He nodded his head, smiling softly as they were led to their table. He pulled out Lilian's chair, waiting until she sat down before taking a seat across from her.

"I'm guessing you're as uncomfortable with this as I am?"

The little blonde forced herself to look up at him. "Is it that obvious?"

"Just a little bit," he replied, laughing softly.

She started to say something, but trailed off when her eyes landed on his left hand. "I didn't know you were married," she murmured softly.

Joey followed her gaze. "I uh, I'm not. Not anymore at least. She died a few years back, I don't wear it anymore, it kind of makes it harder."

Lilian looked down at her own wedding ring and nodded her head. "I understand, I guess you and I just handle it differently."

Two men approached their table, cutting off their conversation. One was carrying wine and two empty glasses, the other carrying two glasses of water. Lilian watched as the man with the wine filled the glasses. He was tall, thin, and had jet black hair, complete with a goatee. The other man was a complete opposite. He was shorter, plumper and bald.

"Thank you," Joey said politely.

"You're quite welcome. Your waiter will be here shortly to take your orders," the tall one said with a smile. The shorter server nodded curtly and then they both left.

Joey shook his head. "No, no, thank you Gomez and Uncle Fester, thank you. I'll appreciate my wine without any body parts," he joked quietly, more so to himself.

To his surprise, Lilian let out a soft giggle which soon turned into a real, genuine laugh. Joey smiled, happy to have elicited a laugh from his partner. "I was thinking the same thing."

"What?"

"They looked exactly like the guys from The Adams Fam- There they are!"

Joey followed her gaze to where Amy Dumas and Johnny Nitro were entering the restaurant.

Lilian and Joey watched discreetly as the host, who was actually Officer Haas, sat Dumas and Nitro down. He nodded to Lilian and Joey, letting them know that all was set up for them to get the information they needed.

"Johnny, it's so nice to get out for a nice dinner for once," they heard Dumas say to Nitro.

"I know. Tomorrow's the big day."

"Yeah… and to think after this, we'll get out of this boring ass state forever," Dumas commented.

_Hey,_ Lilian thought to herself. _Delaware is NOT boring! _

She didn't say anything; rather, she reached across the table, taking his hand in hers. "Honey, it's so nice to be celebrating our anniversary tonight," Lilian said softly.

"Yes, I know," Joey replied nervously. "It seems as though we hardly get to see each other anymore… but let's not worry about that right now. Tonight, darling, is all about you and I." He smiled softly over at her, lifting her hand to his lips. "Have I mentioned how stunning you look tonight?"

Lilian bit her lip as she looked over at him; he really wasn't all that bad...

"Lilian, they're moving."

She glanced up, almost thankful for the distraction. "They're just dancing. I guess we should join them," she replied softly.

He climbed to his feet, holding a hand out to her which the blonde hesitantly took. He led her over to the dance floor, pulling her into his arms. Lilian stiffened at first before forcing herself to relax against him.

Charlie watched them from his podium in between seating guests. He stifled a chuckle. _Man, Orton would love to get a load of this._

Back on the dance floor, Lilian had finally put her arms around his neck and Joey had his arms wrapped carefully around her waist, making sure his hands weren't too low. As they swayed to the soft music, they inched their way closer to where Amy and Johnny were at.

"But do you still think we can do this?" Johnny whispered.

"Of course, babe, we'll be fine without those two blonde idiots. Besides, more money for us," she whispered back, laughing.

Lilian pulled back from Joey, looking at him. "This is almost too easy."

Joey's brown eyes glanced from the robbers and back to Lilian's green ones. "You know baby, you never cease to amaze me."

Lilian caught on, realizing they were being watched. Unsure of what to say, Lilian asked, "What do you mean?"

Pulling her closely, he whispered in her ear, "You put all these other girls to shame."

Lilian giggled airlessly, moving closer to Joey. "Baby, you make me so happy," she said, wrapping her arms tighter around his neck.

He automatically lowered his hands out of instinct, freezing slightly when he realized his hands were now resting squarely on her bottom. But Lilian merely smiled gently at him, urging him with her eyes to continue.

"I love you so much," Joey murmured softly. Without thinking, he leaned in, kissing Lilian gently on the lips.

Lilian froze momentarily, but soon found herself kissing him back. Just as quickly however, the kiss had ended. Brown eyes met green as he silently apologized; she merely shook her head though.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

As the music slowly came to an end, Johnny and Lita made their way back to the table, as did Lilian and Joey.

The evening went by quickly, much to Lilian and Joey's dismay. Lilian was surprised at how much fun she was having. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually enjoyed doing something, other than tracking down perpetrators. She had to keep from frowning as Joey pulled up in front of her house. He even walked her to the door.

"Lilian, I'm really sorry about kissing you at the restaurant. I was just worried that they'd think something since we were getting so close."

She smiled and shook her head. "Joey, it was fine, really. Tonight was fun. I actually forgot about the case and about work completely. Don't tell McMahon I said that," she added hastily.

He smiled back. "Don't worry; I felt the exact same way." Leaning closer, he softly brushed his lips against her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight."

"'Night," she said, silently scolding her body for reacting towards him. _Dumbass. Yeah, well, he looks damn adorable in that suit. _She argued with herself as she unlocked her door and stepped inside, watching Joey drive away.

Even though they had fun tonight, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong tomorrow…

* * *

"Okay. Here's how it's going down," Captain McMahon instructed. "Garcia and Styles, you will be outside patrolling the area. McMahon and Orton, you two will be in the bank. Haas and Benjamin, you two will be the tellers. Allow them to rob the bank, and when they leave, Garcia and Styles, you take them down in the hall. Understand?"

"Yes sir," the group chorused, all making their way to their respective positions.

"Well, this is it," Lilian said nervously, checking her clip once they were in position in an unmarked squad car.

"Hey. Everything's going to be fine," Joey replied, checking the wire in his ear to make sure they could hear everything going on in the bank.

"Yeah, now it's just a waiting game," Lilian grumbled.

They didn't have to wait long, however. A few minutes later, a white Mustang pulled up, the two passengers exiting swiftly and making their way to the bank, pulling black masks over their faces.

"Headed your way," Joey said, and moments later screams could be heard from inside the bank.

They waited a few more minutes before climbing out of the car, quickly making their way closer to the bank. Within minutes Johnny and Lita came running out of the bank, catching sight of Lilian and Styles who had their guns poised, they took off running.

Without hesitation, the pursuit was under way. The two officers started to easily catch up with the assailants, or so it seemed. Johnny sped ahead of Lita, and Lilian gave Joey the go ahead to follow him.

With the two men out of the way, the blonde detective easily took the redhead down. She had her hands behind her back, ready to place the cuffs on when she felt someone roughly grab her by her hair.

"What the fuc-" she trailed off, realizing who had a hold of her hair. "Shelton what are you doing?"

"For once in your life Garcia, just shut up." He reached down, helping Amy to her feet. "She didn't hurt you did she?"

She glared at the blonde, lifting her hand up to slap her hard across the face. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"You little bitch," Lilian growled furiously, swinging her elbow in the general direction of Dumas' face. However, she yelped in pain when Shelton's gun came down hard across her left shoulder, sending the little blonde to her knees.

"Get up," Shelton commanded.

Lilian couldn't move, the pain traveling through her arm and face blinding her. However, Shelton grabbed her by the hair again, pulling her roughly to her feet.

"FREEZE!" she heard, and within moments, Shelton's arm was around her neck in a chokehold and Dumas had her gun pointed towards her head.

McMahon rounded the corner, followed closely by Haas, McMahon, and Orton.

"Don't move!" she heard Shelton yell, his gun digging into her temple. "If anyone moves, I'll blow her fucking head off!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Shelton…"

"I said _don't move_!"

Captain McMahon took a deep breath, leveling his weapon at the trio in front of them. "Okay. I'm staying back… just let Detective Garcia go."

"Stop talking!" Shelton yelled, his grip tightening around Lilian's throat. The blonde winced, her injured left arm cradled against her side as she uselessly tugged at Shelton's arm with her right hand to get a breath.

"We're not going to do anything, man," Haas spoke up.

_Oh, great,_ Lilian thought wryly_. I've got two guns pointed at my head and Charlie the Klutz trying to talk them down along with the Captain who's pissed at me, the Lieutenant who hates me, and the Officer who wants into my pants. I'm fucked._

"Shut up!" Shelton yelled again, jerking Lilian back against him, breaking her out of her thoughts when pain shot down her shoulder. "I want you all to set your weapons down. NOW!"

"Look, Shelton, how about you just tell us why you're doing this? We're a team here, right?" Haas continued cautiously.

"We're not a team… this bitch here thinks she's a one-woman crime fighting crew and I'm sick and tired of her getting the credit for every fucking bust and arrest!" Shelton said harshly, the grip on his weapon tightening with every second.

"It's just Garcia, man. You know that she's independent. So what's hurting her going to help?" Haas asked.

"It'll give a lot of good cops the credit they deserve!" Shelton replied angrily.

"Like who, you?" Lilian couldn't help but spit out. "You're here with this red headed bitch holding one of your _colleagues_ hostage and you have the nerve to say you're doing this so people get credit? You're full of shit, Shelton!"

"Shut up," Shelton whispered lowly.

"You're a disgrace," Lilian continued, the pain in her shoulder lessoning slightly as her temper rose.

"I will fucking kill you right now if you don't shut the hell up!"

"Then I'll see you in hell then because there's no way you're walking away from this without four bullets in your head," Lilian snapped back.

"Look, everyone, just relax," McMahon said calmly yet sternly, holding his weapon loosely, looking at Lilian with concerned eyes, seeing the pain deep within her green eyes. "Garcia, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sir," Lilian replied shakily, the adrenaline beginning to wear off, the little blonde forgetting for a moment that Shelton was holding her with an iron grip. "He hits like a girl."

"You shut the hell up too," Shelton hissed, pressing his gun against Lilian's injured shoulder. She whimpered involuntarily as Shelton yelled, "And you all put your weapons down. NOW! I'm not joking!"

Having caught sight of Joey sneaking up behind them, the captain turned to his officers. "You heard him, weapons down."

"But sir..."

"You heard me Haas, put your weapons down."

Joey stepped closer to him, cursing himself when he made a slight noise. Shelton turned around quickly, throwing Lilian to the ground as his attention went to Joey. Without a word, his gun went off and the Officer was on the ground.

"Get him!" the Captain yelled, watching as the injured detective quickly made her way to her partner's side.

"Somebody call for help!" she cried out, her normally calm voice now etched with concern.

Charlie, Vince, and Randy all captured the three while Stephanie went back to her car to call for an ambulance.

"Joey, I need you to stay with me, okay?" Lilian cupped his face with her right hand, keeping her left arm cradled against her body. "Keep your eyes open," she said in the calmest voice she could manage.

Joey had his right hand placed over his shoulder and chest area, blood seeping through his police uniform.

"Talk to me," she commanded. She asked the first thing that popped into her mind. "What happened with Nitro?"

"Got him," Joey managed to groan out. "He's in ... the cruiser," he finally said, his voice riddled with pain.

"Well, that's good," Lilian replied proudly. "Here… let me," she said, gently moving his hand from where the blood was steadily flowing. Ignoring the shooting pain in her left arm at the motion, she placed both her hands on the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood.

"Are… are you okay?" Joey managed to choke out, his eyes glazing slightly.

"I'll be fine," Lilian murmured, trying the will the tears forming in the corners of her eyes away.

"Good." With that, Joey's eyes began to close.

"Joey? Joey! Don't you dare close your eyes on me!" Lilian yelled.

His eyes shot open, and the blonde could have sworn she saw a hint of amusement in his eyes. "You shouldn't… use… that voice all the time… it scares the children… in Uganda," he struggled.

Lilian laughed softly. "You and that damn sense of humor." She glanced up, hearing sirens in the distance. "Help's on the way Joey, just a few more minutes."

"It hurts...so… bad..." he groaned out, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Joey...please don't do that!" she pleaded, trying to force him to stay with her. Her pleas turned into choked sobs when his eyes flutter closed fully.

"Come on Garcia, the ambulance is here. We need you to get looked over too."

"Don't want to… can't leave him," she managed between sobs.

Charlie rubbed her back, pulling her into his arms as the EMTs tended to Joey. "He's strong Lil, if he can deal with you…" He pulled back, flashing her a grin to show he was joking. "Then this isn't going to keep him down."

Lilian went to smack him, but yelped in pain.

"Yeah, I told you," Charlie stated, ducking another hit. "Let's get you checked out."

She wiped her cheeks and followed him to another one of the ambulances that had arrived, being sure not to move her arm too much.

Two of the police cruisers pulled out of the parking lot, heading back to the station. Lilian smiled to herself, knowing that they had won.

"Ow!" she hissed, keeping her jaw clenched.

"Sorry," the EMT said. "We're just getting you stabilized before we move you to the hospital for x-rays."

"How is my partner?" Lilian asked, trying not to cry out as the EMT worked on her arm.

"I don't know, detective," the EMT replied softly.

Lilian sighed, leaning her head back as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. _He'll be fine, Lil_, she thought to herself, sending a silent prayer up to heaven in hopes that that thought would be accurate.

"Detective, do you know where the blood is coming from?" The EMT's voice broke her out of her thoughts.

She looked down, the blood on her uniform standing out against the cornflower blue. "God… I… it's not mine. It's his."

Minutes later, they arrived at Christina Hospital in Newark, Delaware. Before the EMT could stop her, she pushed herself off the stretcher where she had been seated and climbed out of the ambulance, jogging to catch up to the stretcher carrying her partner.

She ignored the pleas from the EMT to get back on the stretcher and the questions from reporters shoving microphones into her face.

The small blonde brushed past everyone, forcing her way over to his side. She took his hand, smiling softly when he squeezed it slightly in return.

"How ya feelin' partner?"

Joey forced a smile for her. "Like I've been shot?"

"No really jackass?"

"You're too kind Blondie." He groaned softy in pain, jolting them both out of her playful banter.

"Ma'am, we're going to need you to step back so we can exam him."

Lilian didn't budge, and Joey made no move to release her hand either. The doctor looked at the two of them, her eyes briefly going to their hands, noticing both were wearing rings. "Look, I know you're worried, but your husband is in good hands now. We're going to take care of him, I promise."

The detective frowned in confusion before her eyes went to Joey's left hand, silently thanking him for keeping the ring on for some reason. Reluctantly, she pulled back from him. "You'll send someone for me as soon as there's news?"

"Of course."

Chewing on her lip, Lilian went back to where she left her stretcher. She watched as they wheeled Joey into the emergency surgery.

Nurses brought in a wheelchair for her and they took her to get an X-Ray on her shoulder. By the time they were, it felt like time was going by so slow for Lilian. She sat in the small, curtained off area in the E.R. until it was pushed back by a middle-aged doctor.

"Hello," he greeted, "I'm Dr. Ross."

Lilian smiled at the man. "Hi."

"How are you doing?"

"I've been better," she admitted honestly.

He smiled kindly and presented her file. "I'm sure you have. Your results came back like I thought they would. You have a slight tear in your rotator cuff, but it isn't serious enough to require surgery. I'm prescribing you some pain pills because I can almost guarantee you'll be in pain for a few days."

She frowned. "Can I work?"

"Not for a few weeks. I'm putting you in a brace for at least four weeks. You can go in to do paperwork, but I would really prefer that you didn't go out and try to wrestle with criminals."

Lilian smiled shyly, shaking her head and wincing when it sent a wave of pain down her shoulder. "Fabulous," she replied through gritted teeth, "I love paperwork."

Dr. Ross smiled kindly. "I'm going to get you a brace and sling, Detective. Hang in there for a few more minutes, and I'll get you out of this place."

"Okay," Lilian agreed. "Wait."

"Yes?"

"Have you heard anything about my partner… erm, husband?"

"Officer Styles?"

"Yes. That's him."

"They took him up to surgery. Other than that, I don't know."

"Thanks for nothing," she muttered softly, before replying to the doctor, "Thank you."

After getting her brace and sling, Lilian nervously paced around the waiting room, wanting nothing more than to know how Joey was. As if on cue, a nurse came over.

"Mrs. Styles?"

It took a few minutes for it to click before she spoke up. "Ah, yes?"

The nurse sent her a gentle smile. "Your husband is out of surgery now. We have hi-"

"Can I go see him now?!"

She nodded her head. "Of course, please follow me."

Lilian thought the nurse couldn't walk fast enough. They finally stopped at one of the doors leading into a room.

"He's still drowsy from the medicine, but you may see him."

She smiled appreciatively. "Thanks," she said quickly and then rushed into the room.

Her heart nearly stopped at the site in front of her. Joey was sleeping, his left arm elevated and bandaged carefully. After regaining herself, she walked over to him, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed.

"Oh Joey," she said softly. "I am so sorry. This is all my fault."

Resting her chin on the bed, she took his right hand in hers, watching him intently for a few moments, watching his chest rise with every breath he took. "We're quite a pair, you know that, right?"

He didn't answer, of course. Lilian sighed, closing her eyes for several long minutes and just listening to the steady beeping of the monitors.

She wasn't sure how long they sat like that, but a soft clearing of the throat startled her back into reality. Bringing her weary eyes up, she hastily dropped Joey's hand and stood.

"Please, Detective, the formalities are not necessary," Captain McMahon said gently.

Lilian sat back down, looking at Joey. "He looks so fragile," she murmured, her voice barely audible.

"You don't look so great yourself."

Lilian brought her tear filled gaze back up. "I'll live," she finally said softly. "I'm more concerned about him."

"Look Detective, can you step into the hall with me for a few minutes?"

Lilian didn't hesitate in shaking her head. "I don't want to leave him...I won't. It's my fault he's in that bed right now."

The Captain sighed softly. "Alright, I'll do this here then. After your actions tonight, and on this case, I think it's time for you to get that promotion to sergeant."

"No."

His head snapped up, meeting her gaze. "Excuse me?"

"I can't accept that sir, unless you promote Joey too."

The Captain thought it over for a few minutes before slowly nodding his head. "Have it your way." He turned to leave, stopping for a second to add, "I'll see you both for your promotions when he's released."

Lilian smiled gently before going back to Joey's side, she took his hand once more. "Hear that Joey, we're getting promoted… together." She bit her lip laying her head against their joined hands. "I wish I knew if you could hear me, there's so much I want to say to you, but I can't find the words.

"When I heard that gunshot," she continued. "I didn't even think it was real. At first I thought I was dead. It all happened so fast. I can still see you falling. I thought...I don't know what I thought."

She sniffed and her thumb rubbed over the palm of his hand. "Then I remembered you had on your vest and for a split second, I knew you'd be okay. But there was so much blood.

"I don't think I've ever done this before, talked like this. Of course, you can't exactly hear me or respond. But I owe you my life, Joey. If it wasn't for you, I know I'd be dead. Shelton would've...but he didn't, and it's because of you. I'll never be able to repay you or thank you enough for that."

Lilian sighed softly, shaking her head as she rested her forehead on the mattress, keeping a grip on his hand. She closed her eyes, dozing off into a restless sleep.

When she awoke a few hours later, she was surprised to look up groggily and see Joey's brown eyes locked with her green eyes. "Joey," she whispered, sitting up and rolling her neck slightly.

She winced in pain, however, when a sharp pain shot through her arm.

"You look like shit, Garcia," Joey murmured, his voice thick with the same exhaustion that was evident in Lilian's eyes. "What's wrong?"

Lilian's eyes flickered down to the useless limb propped up in a sling, cursing the brace currently chafing her skin. "Shelton tore my rotator cuff when he pistol whipped me... but enough about me. I'll survive. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," he murmured softly, licking his dry lips. "Water?"

"I'll get it for you." She walked over to the little pitcher of ice water the nurse had left them, struggling to pour the water in the cup.

"Need some help, Lil?"

She sent him an amused look before shaking her head. "Come on, you know I can handle this." A few more seconds passed before she finally had the cup filled and started back over to him.

He leaned up taking the cup from her with a soft smile. "Must you always be so stubborn?"

"Well... yes."

"Fair enough. So… we're being promoted?"

Her green eyes widened. "You heard me? How uh… how much did you hear?"

He shrugged, finishing off the water. "Enough."

She closed her eyes, clenching her teeth and willed herself not to get upset with him. "Fine," she managed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Joey, you're the one that took a bullet, not me. I just tore some stuff. I mean, if you wouldn't have been wearing your vest..."

He smiled. "Well, if I didn't, you probably would've gotten pissed at me for not following regulations."

She nodded, a slow smile appearing. "You're damn right I would have."

The silence hung uncomfortably between the two of them for several moments before Lilian rolled her neck again, this time taking care not to jar her injured shoulder. "I… uh, I should get going. I need to finish the paperwork for this case. IAB is going to go crazy with this. A bad cop… McMahon's gonna get some bad press for this, and someone needs to do damage control."

"Let him deal with it," Joey said airily. "You're hurt."

"Well, thanks to Shelton, I still have my writing arm. Remind me to slap the shit out of him for not going after the right shoulder," Lilian said wryly, allowing a small smile to play across her lips.

"I'm just sorry you got hurt," Joey said with a sigh, allowing her to slip her hand out of his.

"Not as sorry as I am that you got hurt," Lilian replied. "It's all my fault. And I'm sorry."

"You can't blame yourself for everything, Lilian."

She looked down, keeping her eyes on anything but his. "It's worked for me before."

"Why? Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" He sat up more, groaning softly as a pain shot through him.

Her head snapped up. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine...but you're not." Joey sighed softly. "Come here please?"

She reluctantly made her way back to the chair and sat down, her voice soft. "I don't know." She continued a little louder, "Maybe it's just instinct, but it's not a habit I can just drop."

"Then it's something we'll work on."

She arched a brow, glancing over at him. "We?"

"Yes we, I am your partner after all."

She laughed softly. "And everyone here thinks we're married."

"Do they now? And why's that?"

"Well," she drawled, "I was trying to find out how you were and a nurse noticed our wedding rings and automatically assumed we were married."

"Ah, damn, I was going to guess and say you've drugged me and took me to Vegas for one of those Drive-Thru Chapels." Joey smiled to show he was joking.

"Maybe, when you won't get blood in my car." Lilian paused after she made the statement, realizing how it probably sounded.

"How long do I have to be in here?" he asked, sensing it was time for a subject change.

"I honestly don't know." She hesitated, and then added, "All you should worry about is getting better."

"What about you?"

"Like I said before, I'll live."

"No one woman vigilante stuff while you're injured?"

Lilian chuckled, and then said, "I won't make any promises."

"Lilian."

She shrugged her good shoulder, feeling a lot more relaxed than before. "If I see any cats stuck in a tree, I can't guarantee that I won't climb up to rescue it."

Joey laughed, his eyes drooping slightly, indicating to Lilian that he was exhausted. "So are you telling me you're a cat lover?"

"Cats, dogs, any animals really. I'm an animal lover I guess you could say." Noticing the playful look in his eyes, she quickly added. "You perv that and I'll smack you."

His eyes widen and he gave a soft chuckle. "I'm rather offended you would think such things about me! Not to mention the fact that you'd hit an injured man."

"It won't be too hard."

He chuckled shaking his head.

"Goodnight Styles!" she exclaimed, clearly amused.

He sent her a playful pout, either starting to feel really daring or it was the medicine talking. "What no goodnight kiss?"

She started to say something smart but sensed the nurse entering the room; instead she climbed to her feet leaning over him to press a soft kiss to his lips.

He closed his eyes, a content smile on his lips, half asleep he murmured. "Love you."

She stiffened, though forced a smile for the nurse. "Love you too, Joey."


	5. Chapter 5

Lilian slipped quietly out of her office, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. Once she was certain the area was clear, she headed straight towards the interrogation room.

"Garcia, what do you think you're doing?"

She cringed at the sound of her boss' bellowing voice. "I uh, I was going to interrogate Shelton?"

"I don't think so; you're not ready for this."

"But sir, I've spent the past three days behind my desk, I can't handle it any longer."

"You're still injured, I should just send you home."

The blonde officer sighed, working her uninjured hand through her hair. "Please, I'm positive that I can handle this."

Vince crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'll call Charlie to get him out of the cell."

Lilian grinned. "Thank you, Captain."

"Yeah, yeah, but let's keep this under wraps, alright?"

"Yessir!"

Just a few minutes later, Lilian was sitting across from a handcuffed and shackled Shelton. She had to bite her tongue to keep from smirking.

"Save it," he spat out.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't need to listen to your bullshit, Garcia. I put up with it for too damn long. I'm glad I shot that punk you call a partner."

Lilian could feel her blood begin to heat. She pursed her lips. "Oh?"

Shelton scoffed, mimicking her as he spat, "Oh?" in a high falsetto. Before she could answer, he continued, "I am just sorry about one thing though, Garcia."

"Yeah, what's that?" Lilian challenged.

"That I didn't break your fucking shoulder."

Lilian did smirk this time, settling down in a chair across from the disgraced police officer. "Yeah, well, Shelton, you never really could get the job done," she said casually, propping her chin up with her uninjured arm.

Shelton merely blinked, hatred in his eyes as he looked at the Detective. "What's it matter to you? You got the bad guy, you kissed ass, and now you're getting a promotion. Congratulations, Garcia. I guess the whole fucking state of Delaware can throw a party now."

"Oh but Shelton I can't do that now, after all, the asshole, sorry, guest of honor won't be there."

Shelton smirked. "Aww don't worry Garcia, I'm sure Joey won't die before then.

Unless I get to him first at least..."

Her green eyes filled with anger. "You will not lay another finger on my partner. And if you do? I'll gladly make sure it'll be the last move you _ever_ make."

"What's wrong, did I hit a nerve? I thought you hated the lackey?"

The small blonde cringed, knowing full and well how she originally felt about Joey. "Feelings change, just like the ones for you. All that respect has turned to hatred, and I have no clue why I'm even wasting my breath on you, you sorry son of a bi-"

"Garcia!"

"Sir?"

"Cool it." And with that, Vince left.

Lilian's eyes narrowed again.

"You know, McMahon isn't always going to be here to save your sorry ass."

"I don't need to be saved, but thanks for the consideration."

Shelton said nothing. He stood from his seat and measured Lilian up.

The blonde stood as well, keeping both eyes on him.

He walked to the corner of the table, now walking towards Lilian. "You sure?"

"Sit your ass back down," she demanded. She didn't have her gun on her. Actually, she didn't have any means of protection. _Well shit_, she cursed silently.

The inmate smirked. "Why don't you make me?"

Lilian attempted to put up a brave front, putting her hand on her hip and trying to put some distance between her and Shelton as she said, "Try something, Shelton. Haas and McMahon are right behind that door. You're not going to have time to do anything."

Shelton frowned, turning and walking away from the Detective. "I guess you're right Garcia," he muttered, running his shackled hands across his face.

"I'm gonna have to be fast with this then!" Shelton yelled, turning back around and using all of his body weight to slam into Lilian, sending the little blonde reeling back into the wall.

She let a breath of air out as she impacted the wall, trying to protect her injured shoulder as best as possible. The door to the interrogation room flew open, Haas, Orton, and the two McMahons all flooding in. Before they could stop him, Shelton brought his head back and slammed it into Lilian's injured shoulder, drawing a strangled sound from Lilian's throat.

The men worked on containing Shelton, while Stephanie checked on Lilian.

"Do you need to go to the hospital, Garcia?"

"No," she bit out, grimacing as she held her shoulder. "He still hits like a girl."

Stephanie laughed softly, helping the other woman to her feet. "At least put some ice on it and head home?"

Reluctantly, she nodded her head. "Okay."

"Lilian, I mean it. Not as your boss, but as a friend, please."

"I'll go home Steph, I promise."

Lilian walked back into her office. She sighed and leaned against the wall. She nearly jumped across the room when someone knocked on her door.

"Jesus Christ Orton, what are you trying to do to me?"

The young officer frowned and closed the door behind him. "I didn't mean to scare you."

She shook her head. "What do you need?"

"I was just coming by to see if your shoulder was okay."

"It's fine, why do you care anyways?"

Orton shuffled his feet uncomfortable before muttering, "Never mind."

As he turned to leave, Lilian closed her eyes, trying to will her headache and the dull throb that settled in her shoulder away. "Orton, wait," she finally called, opening her eyes in time to see the young officer turn around.

"What?" he asked softly.

"I'm sorry," Lilian replied, biting her lower lip. "I just…I'm hurting and it hasn't been a good week. I never should have tried to interrogate him, but I'm stubborn. And look where it got me," she said, gesturing to her injured shoulder.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Orton asked, frowning.

"I don't know," Lilian admitted. "I should look to see if there is any new bruising, but I can't move my arm without having pain shoot down it."

"Would you like me to do it?"

Lilian bit down on her tongue, stopping the smart remark that was bound to come out. "I hate feeling like an invalid."

"Ah, just think of it as making a young man's fantasy come true..." He held up his hands, grinning softly. "And that was a joke to make you laugh."

She offered a soft laugh, and slipped her jacket off. "Thanks."

Randy nodded, gently rolling up her sleeve. His fingers gently moved along her skin, careful not to hurt her.

Lilian sighed, enjoying the feeling he was causing on her arm. "Is it messed up again?"

"I don't think so, I don't see anything. You might want to ice it though just in case."

She nodded and rolled her sleeve back down. "Thanks."

"Not a problem."

There was a comfortable silence between the two until Lilian asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This. You're being nice to me, you saved me from Shelton. I don't get it. I may be hopped up on pain killers, but I'm still in my right mind and I am not going to sleep with you."

Randy blushed slightly, turning his head away from the little blonde for a moment. "I, uh this isn't easy to say, Garcia."

"What is it?" Lilian asked warily.

"I uh, I like you. A lot." Randy said his statement softly, but the blonde detective still heard him.

Lilian blinked, taken aback by his statement. "I ah, come again?"

"I like you," Orton repeated, unsure of how to continue.

"You have a weird way of displaying it, Officer," Lilian replied, wincing slightly as her arm began throbbing again.

"What do you mean?"

"Where do I start? I mean, there's the fact that you act like a pig whenever I'm around. Trying to get into a girl's pants every five seconds doesn't say 'I like you,' not at all."

Randy cringed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay so I didn't handle it the way I should have, but I'm trying now. That's something, isn't it?"

"I suppose." Biting her lip, she glanced up at him. "What do you want me to say, Orton?"

"Something...anything. God Lilian, I don't know. It took me long enough to get that out!"

She shrugged. "I don't know what you want me to say and I'm sorry for that."

Randy thought for a moment. "Then don't say anything."

"What?"

"Let me kiss you."

"Excuse me!?" She nearly fell backwards as he spoke.

"Look, if you let me kiss you and you can look me in the eye and tell me you don't feel anything, then I promise I won't ever hit on you again."

The blonde stared at him. "Are you kidding me?"

He shook his head. "Please?"

Lilian frowned, shaking her head. "Orton…Randy, I don't think this is appropriate," she began, only to have Orton lean down, cupping his hand behind her neck and pulling her to him.

She closed her eyes as his lips met hers chastely. Randy allowed his lips to cover hers for a few seconds, and then he pulled back.

Lilian slowly opened, her eyes, her fingers dancing over her lips for a few long seconds.

"Did you feel anything?" Orton asked hopefully, his hands rubbing against his pants for a few brief seconds.

"Nope, sorry."

Randy nodded his head dejectedly. "I...okay. Thanks."

She forced a smile, nodding her head. "Sorry, Randy."

He turned to leave, frowning when he caught sight of Joey standing there, a shocked look on the other man's face.

Lilian felt horrible catching sight of Joey, her hand flew to cover her lips as she tried to think of something to say.

Randy nodded towards the other man and left. Joey stared at Lilian, letting the door close behind him.

"I can explain," she finally said.

"Explain what?" he asked, going to his desk as though nothing happened.

"Joey..."

"What?" he asked loudly.

"It wasn't what it looked like."

"Oh, so you slipped and were going to hurt you arm, and his lips saved you?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Forget it. I don't have to explain a damn thing to you!"

Joey stopped and walked towards her. "Go home," he said in a low voice.

"Don't tell me what to do! As far as I'm concerned, I am the one to be giving orders in this partnership. Why in the hell are you even here? You go home!" Reaching forward, she pushed Joey in his injured arm.

His eyes went down to where her hand had just been. "Don't push me!" Using two fingers, he pushed her injured shoulder in return.

"This is bullshit! You come into this place like you own everything. Well damn it, Joey, you don't! Before you ever set foot in here, I was supposed to be getting a promotion. I shouldn't have to be your partner!" She motioned to their arms that were in slings, "And this?! This wouldn't have happened if you weren't here!"

"Oh that's right, Lilian, blame it all on me! Blame it on me just like you've blamed everything on everyone else! Because no matter what happens, it'll never be your fault, will it? Of course not! God forbid you actually make a mistake!"

Lilian seared into his eyes. Everything in her world had completely stopped. It felt like time was standing still. "What do you want with me?" she yelled, feeling herself almost on the verge of a Spanish breakdown. "Why do you even bother sticking around? We both know you could go to McMahon and ask for another partner, so why stay?"

The redness in his cheeks flared. "Did you ever stop to think that people care about you? Because they do, I do, damn it!"

She bit her tongue to keep the Spanish tirade from spewing. Grabbing her jacket, she stormed past him, headed for the door. Joey grabbed the arm that wasn't in a sling. He swung her back into him.

Lilian gasped slightly at his boldness and was even more shocked when he crashed his lips down on top of hers.

His unharmed hand came up to the side of her face, his fingers diving into her hair. She froze, but then her right hand came to the back of his hand, pulling him to her for more.


End file.
